Firefighters have had to put out more than 2,000 deliberate blazes across Renfrewshire in the last three years, the Paisley Daily Express can reveal.

And a top firefighter has warned that lives could be lost because of the actions of moronic arsonists.

The shocking figures have come to light as police investigate a spate of firebug attacks across Paisley in recent weeks.

The statistics shows that fire crews were tied up for 600 hours, dealing with 2,373 deliberate blazes in the region – diverting resources from life-threatening emergencies.

The cost to taxpayers of dealing with the nuisance fires – including the recent spate of bin and grass torchings across Paisley and Johnstone – could hit as much as £850,000.

Fire chiefs have slammed yobs for putting lives at risk.

Area Commander Paul Tanzilli, Scottish Fire and Rescue’s senior officer in Renfrewshire, said: “Deliberate firesetting is an extremely serious issue – it endangers firefighters, other emergency service crews and members of the public.

“Responding to these fires is a dangerous waste of our time and could keep our crews away from more serious incidents, where the lives of innocent people are at risk.

“This can and does result in injury, damage to property, pollution to the environment and can even cause the tragic loss of life.

“Flames can quickly spread out-of-control to threaten people and property that those starting the fires perhaps never intended to harm.”

He added: “People who deliberately start fires should know what they are doing is exceptionally dangerous and it is criminal.

“Experts in our Fire Investigation Unit work closely with police to identify those responsible and see them held to account for their actions.”

In recent weeks, the Express has reported on a spate of malicious blazes with firestarters setting light to cars, garden hedges, rubbish and even conifer trees.

Despite a crackdown by the police and fire service, it is thought only a small number have been prosecuted for nuisance outbreaks.

Yesterday, campaign group the Scottish TaxPayers’ Alliance blasted the waste of public money and called for a harsher consequences for firebugs.

Eleanor McGrath, of TaxpayerScotland, said: “There must be tougher penalties for those responsible for malicious blazes, which needlessly put firefighters in danger and divert them from other pressing incidents.

“Fire teams already have an extremely difficult and important job, so it’s quite frankly deplorable that some people would purposefully set things like bins on fire.

“These incidents are an unnecessary and easily avoidable drain on public resources.”

As previously reported in the Express, Paisley firefighters were called out last month to deal with four grass fires in one day.

Worried families raised the alarm after flames were spotted in parkland near the Royal Alexandra Hospital on April 20, with crews also called to blazes in two Johnstone streets and in Barrhead.

And, last weekend, three small blazes were started within a mile-radius in Paisley’s east end, although there was no major damage.